I'm building a survival product I won't disclose it for obvious reasons but once finished ill karma a few out for help testing. I'm in a predicament I need a lightweight metal resistant to heat 1/4 thick sheets. I was thinking aluminum or stainless steel.
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I'm looking for some input on materials.
- Thread starter jtorbin88
- Start date
That's really vague. What do you mean by "resistant to heat"? like, it won't melt? what temperature?
Here's a start: McMaster-Carr
Here's a start: McMaster-Carr
it won't melt but it will burn through with enough oxygen and heat. How high temp are we talking about?
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
Something that can be a quarter inch thickness lightweight and lets say melting point above 500 degrees maybe?
1/4 Ali sounds about right. 1/4 steel would weight a tonne. Keep in mind that if you are say ... boiling water, aluminum pot would work fine, but empty it would melt on a hot fire.
How about silicone hot pads
Ok that's what I was trying to figure out.
Fires and survival products are killy sounding words. If Markey ever returns from his out of state residence he might ban your product. Be careful! (And good luck on whatever it is).
depends what you're burning: wood, coal, paper, methane, propane, hydrogen... they all combust at different temperatures
It doesn't have to be that thick to prevent it from melting
It'd be wood more or less
Okay, provided it won'thave a forced air feed and just burns in ambient air many metals would work: aluminium, steel, stainless steel, titanium, copper. Ceramics work well too.
Take an aluminium can and try and make a scale model.
MisterHappy
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Unobtainium.
It's the only way to be sure.
It's the only way to be sure.
Aluminum is the only reasonably priced lightweight metal. Titanium is better in many way but very expensive and very hard to work with.
You sure it needs to be metal? You may want to look at glass reinforced high temp epoxy material.
Hard to recommend something with so little info. Decide what specs you care about (e.g. cost, weight, melting point etc) and prioritize them. Feel free to PM me if you want some engineering help.
Look at what some of the folding wood stoves are made of. The Emberlit and Solo are examples. It is a fairly thin gauge sheet metal. Also do some searching for things like rocket stoves and woodburners designed for 3rd world countries. They use a lot of salvaged material like oil cans etc. That would give you an idea as to how long the thinner stuff will last when used every day as opposed to a few times a year.
Let's backup a step: it sounds like you're just beginning to prototype.
First, forget what the final, marketable product will be made out of--just get what's cheapest and easy to work with. Galvanized steel is a good choice. You might even be able to use PVC lined with aluminum foil.
Second, don't go buying any special, expensive metals--they're all going to end up in the trash in a month (if you're doing it right). RE-PURPOSE! Soup cans, coffee cans, soda cans, duct work from home depot, are all great CHEAP sources of materials. The container store is a bonanza. Get a flat nosed hammer, a hack saw, some tin snips, and a cheap pop riveter and go at it.
Then when you have a "proof of concept" you start the patent process.
And then when you have that locked down you start the marketable design that is more durable, easier to manufacture and specially crafted to not look like a tomato can priced at $30.
good luck and have fun with it
First, forget what the final, marketable product will be made out of--just get what's cheapest and easy to work with. Galvanized steel is a good choice. You might even be able to use PVC lined with aluminum foil.
Second, don't go buying any special, expensive metals--they're all going to end up in the trash in a month (if you're doing it right). RE-PURPOSE! Soup cans, coffee cans, soda cans, duct work from home depot, are all great CHEAP sources of materials. The container store is a bonanza. Get a flat nosed hammer, a hack saw, some tin snips, and a cheap pop riveter and go at it.
Then when you have a "proof of concept" you start the patent process.
And then when you have that locked down you start the marketable design that is more durable, easier to manufacture and specially crafted to not look like a tomato can priced at $30.
good luck and have fun with it
I'd need something 6 inches wide 12 inches tall, I'd need to be able to drill through it effectively and bolt stuff to it. So maybe able to get away with testing it out with sheets of aluminum or something like that. I also need to find some one with maybe welding knowledge and auto cad / blueprint knowledge as I have knowledge with neither.
6 inches wide a foot tall, rectangular
